Man in prison for graffiti gets probation

He had served more than eight months of 10-month sentence

A 19-year-old man who was convicted on a graffiti charge earlier this year for damaging a local high school was granted probation on Thursday after serving more than eight months of a 10-month sentence in state prison.

Jonathan Sanchez, who pleaded guilty to the offense in March, damaged property at Ray High School last September. At that time, 117th District Judge Sandra Watts also placed him on five years' probation for other graffiti charges related to damage he caused to three businesses on Chaparral Street at about the same time, and ordered him to pay restitution to the owners.

Watts on Thursday granted a motion from Sanchez's attorney, Gabriel Salais, to allow him to be released a couple months early on probation, saying he had learned his lesson. The conditions will be decided at a later date, Watts said.

During the hearing, prosecutor Doug Mann argued the thousands of dollars of damage Sanchez caused and his uncooperative attitude toward police early on should not be forgotten. The original sentence he received was fair, Mann said.

Sanchez's mother, Sylvia Morin, and his girlfriend, Valerie Villarreal, who will give birth to his child next month, said that he regretted his actions and had changed for the better. On Saturday, both women attended his GED graduation ceremony at the state prison in Hondo.

"He looks different. I think he's grown up a lot," Morin testified, adding her son also had college plans.